Former School Building in Flint MI Abandoned in 2008

Calvin Coolidge Elementary School, Flint Michigan

Date added: November 27, 2024

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The Calvin Coolidge Elementary School in Flint Michigan was constructed in 1929. Designed by the Detroit firm of Malcomson, Higginbotham, and Trout, the school building is an intact example of a late 1920s urban neighborhood school in Flint. Its existence represents the rapid population growth of Flint in the first half of the twentieth century in response to the burgeoning auto industry.

The City of Flint began with the 1819 establishment of a trading post by Jacob Smith near a crossing of the Flint River that the local Native Americans had used for centuries. The river crossing, known as the Grand Traverse, was instrumental in the settlement of the area. The Saginaw Pike, now Saginaw Street in downtown Flint, from Detroit to Saginaw, completed in 1833, used the Grand Traverse. A commercial settlement grew around the strategic crossing. The designation of Flint as the Genesee County seat in 1837, helped to stimulate settlement. In 1855, Flint was incorporated as a city, and the population reached two thousand people.

A sizeable lumber industry contributed to Flint's growth from 1850 to the early 1880s. As the local tree supply was depleted lumbering gave way to the production of horse-drawn vehicles. Several vehicle companies were operating in Flint by the last two decades of the nineteenth century. Built along the river in 1886, the Durant-Dort Carriage factory was the largest carriage producer in the United States by 1910. Shortly after the turn of the twentieth century, the company was producing 150,000 carriages annually. The many producers of horse-drawn vehicles and the number of carriages, wagons, carts, and other wheeled vehicles produced in Flint caused the city to call itself "The Vehicle City" by 1905.

Flint's population nearly tripled between 1900 and 1910, rising from thirteen thousand to 38,550. It more than doubled again by 1920 to 91,599 people, and reached an estimated 165,000 in 1931. In just thirty years the population rose to twelve times its 1900 level. The dramatic rise in population relates directly to the rise of the automobile industry in the city. The city's rise as an automobile manufacturing center resulted directly from its earlier role as a leading producer of horse-drawn vehicles. Leading manufacturers of horse-drawn vehicles such as William A. Patterson, William C. Durant, and J. Dallas Dort became pioneers in the city's auto industry after the turn of the twentieth century. A.B.C. Hardy's Flint Automobile Company, established in 1901, was the city's first auto manufacturer, but Buick, which moved to Flint from Detroit in 1904, and Chevrolet, which moved from Detroit in 1913, soon became the mainstays of the auto industry. Newcomers from the rural Midwest and from as far away as the rural South and Mexico swarmed to Flint and other Michigan auto towns to take advantage of the booming job market and comparatively high industrial wages. Although manufacturing in Flint declined during the Depression, military production during World War II and post-war automotive growth resulted in a significant increase in the population of Flint. An increasing number of people began to move to the outlying neighborhoods of the city as well as to surrounding townships. General Motors employment in Flint peaked in 1968 at about eighty thousand workers. According to the United States Census, the population of Flint in 1970 was 193,317 people, already a decrease from the peak 1960 population of 196,940.

The 1970s and 1980s decline of the United States auto industry had a devastating effect on Flint. Population declined dramatically as General Motors closed factories and reduced the Flint workforce. By 1990 the city had 140,761. Over the next twenty years, the number of people in Flint decreased to 102,434, another decrease of nearly thirty percent. These dramatic changes in population had profound effects on the city that transformed the structural organization of public institutions, including the local school district.

It is likely that Coolidge Elementary was operated on a platoon system, or at least was constructed to allow for it if the need arose. The system was developed for the most intensive use of classrooms at all times by having teachers teach the same lessons to two sets of students who moved from homerooms to specialized study rooms on a regimented time schedule. This system of operation allowed for larger enrollments and eliminated wasted space. It required a separate auditorium and gymnasium, which Coolidge had from the onset. Malcomson and Higginbotham had extensive experience in designing and modifying buildings for the platoon system, and the platoon system use in Detroit received national attention.

Flint Public Schools

The huge influxes of population in the early and middle years of the twentieth century had a tremendous impact on Flint's public school system which had its beginnings in 1834 with just twelve students. Formal public education in the city began in 1837 with the organization of the first school district. In 1846 a second district was added and a union school was constructed. Oak Street School, a grade school, was constructed about 1856 soon after Flint was incorporated as a city. The districts and school locations were based on the city's wards. In 1861, District No. 2 determined their building would be the Flint High School and in 1875 a new brick three-story building was built for that purpose. This was also the result of District No. 1 being annexed to the city in 1871 as the Fourth Ward and the state legislature creating a consolidated district in the city in 1872.

As the number and geographic range of Flint's residents increased between the late 1800s and the 1920s the number of schools increased as well. In 1898 two elementary schools were constructed. Two more schools were erected in 1902 and in 1903. The public library, at that time affiliated with the local Board of Education, was constructed in 1904. Two schools were constructed in 1907, and another in 1911.

In 1912 voters approved a millage for the district, and this appears to be the start of Malcomson and Higginbotham's relationship with the Flint School District. Although records have not been found to substantiate this, it appears the board hired the firm as the district's architects. This conclusion is based on the similarity of the school designs, the number of schools during the period that can be verified as designed by the firm, and the firm's opening of a Flint office. It does not appear that any other architects designed schools in the district constructed during this period. This all indicates that Malcomson and Higginbotham, and the successor firm of Malcomson, Higginbotham and Trout likely designed all of the new schools and additions in the district until 1930 when construction of school buildings ceased.

The first two schools designed by Malcomson and Higginbotham, Homedale and Parkland elementary schools, opened in 1914. Fairview Elementary School opened in 1915. All three buildings have been demolished.

In 1921, Malcomson & Higginbotham designed the new Flint High School (later named Flint Central High School) which was constructed on the site of the former Oak Grove Hospital (later Oak Grove Sanitarium) campus. Some of the existing buildings were used for the district's junior college. Although the high school building still stands it has been abandoned. In 1924, Whittier Junior High School was added to the campus. That same year Zimmerman Junior High School was constructed on the city's west side in the Fourth Ward, the building still stands but has been altered. The district constructed eleven buildings between 1924 and 1929, including a second high school, Flint Northern High School, in 1928 (demolished).

By March 1928 the Flint district had the second highest number of pupils (28,169) in Michigan. Flint's two largest elementary schools, Pierson (demolished) and Garfield (abandoned), were designed in 1928 and constructed in 1929. A third junior high school, Longfellow (abandoned), Flint's largest, was constructed in 1928.

The Calvin Coolidge Elementary School was constructed in 1929 for the Fourth Ward - in 1928 the school board promised residents of the ward their own elementary and junior high schools. The elementary school was named after United States President Calvin Coolidge, who sent a letter and portrait to the school in response. Located near the western edge of the city, the land that was originally called the Fourth Ward was annexed to the city in 1871. It reportedly had a fairly large pine forest that was used in constructing the state school for the deaf (Wood, p. 584). The original ward consisted of the entire southwest section of the city, south of the Flint River and west of Thread Creek and Fenton Road. The area is now primarily the Sixth Ward. As the central part of Flint increased in density, residents began building in the Fourth Ward. One of the Chevrolet plants was located on the east edge of the Fourth Ward, just west of downtown, which likely contributed to the growth of the area.

In 1930 the district completed Lowell Junior High School (abandoned) and McKinley Elementary and Junior High (demolished); both designed by Malcomson and Higginbotham. They were the last two schools constructed in the district until 1950.

Despite the large number of pupils, financial problems plagued the district from the late 1920s through the 1940s due to the Depression and outstanding debt from the district's needed building program. Flint's population continued to increase after World War II and residents moved outward from the center of the city. This necessitated new schools in the new outlying neighborhoods along with additions to the older buildings. During the 1950s the district responded to Flint's continued population growth and undertook a new building program that included replacing some of the older school buildings, the junior college (now Mott Community College) and the library. In 1952 an addition was constructed to the north end of Coolidge School. Sometime in the 1970s a gymnasium was added to the west end of the original building.

Due to a precipitous decline in population beginning in the 1970s, the district closed Calvin Coolidge Elementary school in 2008. It is currently vacant and a local non-profit is planning to rehabilitate the building for housing.

Malcomson, Higginbotham & Trout

It seems likely that the Detroit architecture firm Malcomson and Higginbotham, and the successor firm of Malcomson, Higginbotham and Trout, designed up to twenty-five schools in the Flint school district between 1913 and 1930, including Calvin Coolidge Elementary School.

William G. Malcomson (1853-1937) was born in Ontario, Canada, and moved to Detroit with his family when he was four years old. His initial training was as a draftsman for Detroit architect Mortimer L. Smith. Malcomson opened his own office in 1885, and five years later he formed a partnership with William E. Higginbotham. William E. Higginbotham (1858-1923) was a native Detroiter, attended the Detroit public schools and trained with Detroit architect J. V. Smith starting in 1877.

After the firm's founding about 1890, the office designed Detroit's Grace Hospital and several Detroit fire stations. Higginbotham was appointed consulting architect for the Detroit City School Board in 1895. The firm is credited with designing three-quarters of Detroit's public school buildings, including Central High School in 1894. Their school plans were so popular they were copied by other communities, and in 1918 the state school board adopted their 1918 platoon plan. In the late 1920s the firm expanded into college and university buildings, including Mosher-Jordan Hall (1928) at the University of Michigan; and the Chemistry Building (1926), Mary Mayo Hall (1928), and Sarah L. Williams Hall (1937) all at Michigan State University.

In addition to their school work the firm designed churches in Detroit including Cass Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church (1891) and Saint Joseph Episcopal Church (1893).

After Higginbotham's death in 1923, Malcolmson continued to practice on his own until 1927 when Alexander L. Trout became a partner and the firm was renamed Malcomson, Higginbotham and Trout. It was during this period that Calvin Coolidge Elementary School was designed. Newspaper articles list payments be approved for the firm of Malcomson, Higginbotham and Trout for their work in Flint, where the firm had a second office, likely because of the relationship with the school board.

In 1935 Trout left the firm and before his death in 1937, Malcomson formed associations with Henry A. Fowler, Ralph R. Calder, and Maurice E. Hammond. The firm name of Malcomson, Calder and Hammond was used until 1945 when Calder left. Malcomson's name was used in successor firm names at least until 1962, sources conflict on the exact firm names.

The year the firm began to work with the Flint district, 1912, is the same year that architect Wirt C. Rowland left the firm of Albert Kahn Architect, Ernest Wilby Associate, Albert Kahn and joined Malcomson and Higginbotham as a junior partner. The firm's name was changed to Malcomson and Higginbotham, Wirt C. Rowland, Associate. He was valued by the firm for his expertise with reinforced concrete design, which the Detroit board of education wanted incorporated into their new schools as a fire-safety feature. Rowland is credited with designing three elementary schools in Flint which were similar in design but utilized different details, such as a hip roof, to differentiate the buildings. The Homedale and Parkland elementary schools opened in the fall of 1914, both have been demolished. The third school, Fairview Elementary School, opened in 1915 and has also been demolished. Rowland left the firm in late 1915 and returned to the firm of Albert Kahn, Architect, Ernest Wilby, Associate.

Most of the Flint schools designed by Malcomson and Higginbotham and Malcomson, Higginbotham and Trout, are two or three stories in height. The majority of the surviving schools designed by the firm are in the Collegiate Gothic style, including Central High School (1921), Whittier Junior High School (1924), Durant Elementary School (1921), Longfellow Junior High School (1928), and Zimmerman Junior and Elementary School (1924) which features five-sided towers trimmed in limestone at the two front entrances. Not many have hip roofs. Durant Elementary School (1921) and Whittier Junior High School appear to be the only other surviving Malcomson and Higginbotham designed schools that have hip roofs.

Building Description

The Tudor Revival style Calvin Coolidge Elementary School faces east and south toward Van Buren and Westcombe Avenues on the west side of Flint, about two miles west of downtown. The school is on an approximately five-acre flat piece of property that extends to Ballenger Highway to the west. It is on the edge of a residential neighborhood that contains one and two-story-tall houses constructed primarily before World War II. Newer commercial buildings line Ballenger Highway. The red brick two-story school has limestone trim and a hip roof clad in red standing seam metal roofing. The hip roof acts as a parapet, disguising a flat central roof. Three massive brick chimneys project from what appears to be the roof peak, two in the east wing and one in the south wing. There is an expanse of grassy lawn with mature trees and a flagpole between the south and east facades of the building and Van Buren and Westcombe Avenues. A concrete walkway leads from the public sidewalk to the entrance on each side of the building. Asphalt paved parking lots are located to the south of the gymnasium, to the north of the classroom, and behind the building. The original building has a roughly backwards C-shaped footprint with a former gymnasium in the crook of the C. There is a one-story red brick clad addition (1952) extending to the north end of the original building, and a one-and-a-half-story red brick clad gymnasium (c. 1970) addition connected to the west end of the original building by a one-story tall connector.

Calvin Coolidge Elementary School faces south and east to Westcombe and Van Buren Avenues respectively on the edge of a residential neighborhood. The building is set far back from both streets, there is a large flat grassy lawn between the building and the public sidewalk. The lawn extends around the site to the rear and sides of the building. The front lawn has a few trees, one evergreen and several deciduous, primarily near the building entrances. Concrete walkways lead from the public sidewalk to each building entrance, and there is a concrete walkway around the building perimeter. A metal flagpole on a six-sided stepped concrete base is located in the southeast corner of the lawn. Asphalt paved driveways enter the property both near the southwest and northeast corners. The driveways lead to the asphalt paved parking lots located on the south side of the gymnasium and in the northeast corner of the property. There is a paved area immediately behind the building. The grassy areas north and west of the building contain playground equipment.

The original building is on a slightly raised basement, an angled limestone water table runs across the east and south elevations. A second limestone band runs across the top of the wall just below the roofline. All of the masonry openings are framed in limestone with quoins at the edges. The original windows have been replaced in the same masonry openings with aluminum framed windows that have glass in the bottom half and metal panels in the top half. The hip roof is covered in a metal standing seam roof, hiding the flat roof behind. The original roof material and when it was changed to the metal roof is unknown, it may have been clay tile as the current roof is a red terra cotta color.

The east elevation of the original building that faces Van Buren Avenue is five bays wide, the center entrance bay projects slightly and is about half as wide as the other four bays. The first-floor entrance has three stone steps leading up to a pair of wood doors in a limestone framed Tudor arch opening. The wood panel doors have small windows near the top, and the tops of the doors are arched to match the masonry opening. A limestone panel above the door has carved letters reading "Calvin Coolidge." At the second floor, a limestone band runs along the sill line of a group of three tall, narrow one-over-one window openings with transoms that reach to the underside of the limestone band running along the roof line. The upper half of the windows and the transoms above are metal panels. The entrance bay has a brick pediment parapet wall with limestone coping extending upward in front of the roof. The pediment has a carved limestone panel depicting a shield in a floral field with "A. D. 1929" engraved into the shield.

The bay of the building immediately to the north (right) of the central entrance bay has large masonry openings at the first and second floors each containing a group of five one-over-one windows separated by aluminum mullions. The upper half of each window is filled with a metal panel. A tall brick pedimented parapet wall with limestone coping extends above the bay. There is a single four-over-four, double-hung window framed in limestone in the center of the pediment. The original building's northernmost bay has a large central masonry framed opening at both floors. Each opening contains a group of three one-over-one windows with metal panels in the upper half. The large center openings are flanked on both sides with a single masonry framed one-over-one window with a metal panel in the upper half. A brick parapet wall with a blind limestone balustrade extends above the roof line. A one-story, red-brick addition, constructed in 1952, projects from the north facade.

The south elevation of the original building is five bays wide; the narrower entrance bay projects slightly forward and is located one bay east of the west end of the building. The hip roof on this side of the building extends down to the top of the wall and there is a massive brick chimney extending from the top of the roof near the center of the elevation. The easternmost bay of the elevation has a one-story tall, canted bay window projecting from the first-floor kindergarten room. The two angled sides of the bay window each contain a limestone framed one-over-one window with a metal panel in the upper half of the opening, while the front has a larger limestone framed masonry opening that contains a group of three one-over-one windows with metal panels in the upper half. Above the projecting bay the second floor has a limestone framed opening containing a group of three one-over-one windows with metal panels in the upper sash. The next two bays of the building west of the kindergarten room both have large limestone framed masonry openings at both floors that each contain a group of five one-over-one windows separated by aluminum mullions. The upper sash of each window is a metal panel.

Moving westward on the elevation the entrance bay is identical to the entrance on the east elevation. There is a pair of wood doors in a limestone framed Tudor arch opening. The wood panel doors have small windows near the top and the top of the doors are arched to follow the top of the opening. A limestone panel above the door has carved letters reading "Calvin Coolidge." At the second floor a limestone band runs along the sill line of a group of three tall, narrow one-over-one windows with transoms which reach to the underside of the limestone band running along the roof line. The upper half of the windows and the transoms are metal panels. The entrance bay has a brick pediment parapet wall with limestone coping extending upward in front of the roof. The pediment has a carved limestone panel depicting a shield in a floral field with "A. D. 1929" engraved into the shield.

The westernmost bay of the original building has a large limestone framed masonry opening at both floors each containing five one-over-one windows separated by aluminum mullions. The upper half of each window is a metal panel. Turning the corner, before the connector, the west wall of the original building has a set of three windows that are boarded within a limestone frame at the first floor and no openings at the second floor.

The rear of the original building consists of the north wall of the south wing and the west wall of the east wing. Starting on the south wing, there is a two-story tall block with a second hip roof extending to the rear. It is two bays deep and is set back slightly from the west end of the building. The west wall of the block has a large limestone framed masonry opening at the first floor containing a set of three one-over-one windows separated by aluminum mullions. The top half of the windows are metal panels. At the second floor, there are two limestone framed openings that intersect with the limestone band running along the top of the wall next to the edge of the metal clad hip roof. Each opening contains a set of two one-over-one windows with metal panels in the upper half. The north wall of the block contains a large limestone framed opening at the first floor with a set of five-over-one windows with metal panels in the upper half.. The east half of the elevation has one large and one small limestone framed masonry opening at the first and second floors. The large openings each contain a set of five-over-one windows with metal panels in the upper sash.. The small openings on both floors contain a pair of one-over-one windows with metal panels in the upper sash.

The rear of the east wing has a two-story projecting block with a flat roof that originally contained a gymnasium. It is clad in brick and is two bays deep by three bays wide. The bays are separated by limestone capped brick piers. Each bay contains a two-story tall masonry opening with limestone sills and lintels. The openings each contain a group of three-part windows separated by aluminum mullions. The top two sections of the windows are metal panels. The parapet wall has a single crenellation in the center of each bay. The center bay on the west elevation is narrower than the other bays and has a small one-story flat roof entrance vestibule projecting at the first floor. A wood panel door is located on the north facade of this wing, near the intersection of 1952 classroom addition.

Between the south wall of the gymnasium wing and the north wall of the south wing there is a one-story brick-clad connector that is partially underground and is below the first-floor windows of the main building. The wall that is partially underground has two sets of two one-over-one windows. The taller section of the connector has a solid metal door and an opening with a large metal louver and panel. Behind the connector, the main wall of the building has a limestone framed masonry opening with three one-over-one windows with metal panels in the upper half at the first floor, and a matching limestone framed opening at the second floor above it. A second limestone framed opening at the second floor has a single one-over-one window with metal panel in the upper half.

A one-story red brick addition (1952) with a flat roof extends to the north end of the original building. The east elevation has a large limestone framed masonry opening with four large sections of windows that are separated by smooth limestone piers. The upper two thirds of the four window sections are covered by vertical metal siding. The lower third of each section contains four aluminum hopper windows. Near the north end of the elevation there is a smaller limestone framed window opening that has been infilled with vertical metal siding.

The north elevation of the 1952 addition has a pair of entrance doors under a flat metal canopy supported by brick walls. The east and west elevations of the addition have one large and one small masonry opening including the vertical metal siding.

A one-story connector with a metal mansard roof runs between the west end of the original school and the gymnasium. Both the connection and the gymnasium were constructed in the 1970s. The connector is set well back and has a pair of flush metals doors with lights in the center flanked by two windows on both sides. The red brick walls of the two-story tall gymnasium are void of any fenestration. The north elevation of the 1970s gymnasium is devoid of openings. The west elevation of the gymnasium contains two pairs of metal entrance doors with shed roof metal canopies created by extending the metal mansard roof down and out above them. There is a metal standing seam clad mansard roof on the gymnasium.

The entrances in the south and east wings of the original building each lead past a staircase with terrazzo steps, plaster walls and wood handrails. The south entrance lobby has marble floors and marble wainscoting on the walls. The corridors have terrazzo floors, plaster walls with built-in lockers, and acoustical tile ceilings. The corridors are double-loaded and follow the footprint of the building. In the second-floor corridor, there is a tile lined niche for a drinking fountain. To the left of the south entrance door is what was originally the library but most recently served as the office for the building. It retains some of the built-in wood shelving. The classrooms originally had wood floors although most have been covered in either carpet or vinyl tile. The classrooms retain their plaster walls and ceilings and some rooms have original wood trim, built-in cabinets and blackboards remain. The condition and materials in each classroom vary. A small auditorium is located at the west end of the second floor. It has a carpeted floor and plaster walls and ceiling. There is a wood wainscot that runs around the room and at the north end of the room it forms the base of the stage which has a plaster proscenium arch.

The original gymnasium has been converted to a library, presumably at the time the new gymnasium was added to the building, and has a dropped ceiling and 1970s paneling and shelves along the walls. There are drywall partitions and there is no sense of the original interior gymnasium space.

The 1952 classroom wing continues the double-loaded corridor with vinyl tile floors, painted concrete block walls and an acoustical tile ceiling. The classrooms in this section of the building have carpeted floors, painted concrete block walls and acoustical tile ceilings. The chalkboards have wood frames but there are no built-in cabinets or furniture.

The interior of the 1970s gymnasium has vinyl floors, painted concrete block walls and a metal truss ceiling.